Various types of radio communication systems in accordance with the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) standard are in use. In a radio communication system that complies with the LTE/SAE (Long Term Evolution/System Architecture Evolution) standard with 3GPP, a logical communication path (user-plane path (U-Plane path)) used for user data communication is established between a packet gateway (PDN Gateway) and user equipments, via a serving gateway (Serving Gateway) and an eNB (evolved Node B), which is a base station. User equipments can perform communication with an external network (the Internet, etc.), using the established U-Plane path.
More specifically, U-Plane paths (EPS bearers) established between the packet gateway and the user equipment include a U-Plane path (S5/S8bearer) established between the packet gateway and the serving gateway, a U-Plane path (an S1-U bearer) established between the serving gateway and the base station (eNB), and a U-Plane path (a data radio bearer) established between the base station (eNB) and the user equipment. The control (establishment, change, release, etc.) of the U-Plane path can be executed with the initiative by an MME (Mobile Management Entity), which is a switching station. For example, the S1-U bearer is established by the switching station controlling the serving gateway and the base station (eNB), which are endpoints of the S1-U bearer (i.e., the switching station transmits or receives control signals to or from the serving gateway and the base stations via a control-plane path (C-Plane path)).